Core:
noun, the most important part of a thing, the essence; from the
Latin cor, meaning heart.

Volume 1.12

This Views Prose

April 29, 2002

Address
to U.S. Cardinals

Let me assure you first of all that I greatly appreciate the effort you
are making to keep the Holy See, and me personally, informed regarding
the complex and difficult situation which has arisen in your country in
recent months. I am confident that your discussions here will bear much
fruit for the good of the Catholic people of the United States.

You have come to the house of the successor of Peter, whose task it is
to confirm his brother bishops in faith and love, and to unite them around
Christ in the service of Gods people. The door of this house is
always open to you. All the more so when your communities are in distress.

Like you, I too have been deeply grieved by the fact that priests and
religious, whose vocation it is to help people live holy lives in the
sight of God, have themselves caused such suffering and scandal to the
young. Because of the great harm done by some priests and religious, the
Church herself is viewed with distrust, and many are offended at the way
in which the Churchs leaders are perceived to have acted in this
matter.

The abuse which has caused this crisis is by every standard wrong and
rightly considered a crime by society; it is also an appalling sin in
the eyes of God. To the victims and their families, wherever they may
be, I express my profound sense of solidarity and concern.

It is true that a generalized lack of knowledge of the nature of the
problem and also at times the advice of clinical experts led bishops to
make decisions which subsequent events showed to be wrong. You are now
working to establish more reliable criteria to ensure that such mistakes
are not repeated. At the same time, even while recognizing how indispensable
these criteria are, we cannot forget the power of Christian conversion,
that radical decision to turn away from sin and back to God, which reaches
to the depths of a persons soul and can work extraordinary change.

Neither should we forget the immense spiritual, human and social good
that the vast majority of priests and religious in the United States have
done and are still doing. The Catholic Church in your country has always
promoted human and Christian values with great vigor and generosity, in
a way that has helped to consolidate all that is noble in the American
people.

A great work of art may be blemished, but its beauty remains; and this
is a truth which any intellectually honest critic will recognize.

To the Catholic communities in the United States, to their pastors and
members, to the men and women religious, to teachers in Catholic universities
and schools, to American missionaries in all parts of the world, go the
wholehearted thanks of the entire Catholic Church and the personal thanks
of the bishop of Rome.

The abuse of the young is a grave symptom of a crisis affecting not only
the Church but society as a whole. It is a deep-seated crisis of sexual
morality, even of human relationships, and its prime victims are the family
and the young. In addressing the problem of abuse with clarity and determination,
the Church will help society to understand and deal with the crisis in
its midst.

It must be absolutely clear to the Catholic faithful, and to the wider
community, that bishops and superiors are concerned, above all else, with
the spiritual good of souls. People need to know that there is no place
in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young.
They must know that bishops and priests are totally committed to the fullness
of Catholic truth on matters of sexual morality, a truth as essential
to the renewal of the priesthood and the episcopate as it is to the renewal
of marriage and family life.

We must be confident that this time of trial will bring a purification
of the entire Catholic community, a purification that is urgently needed
if the Church is to preach more effectively the Gospel of Jesus Christ
in all its liberating force. Now you must ensure that where sin increased,
grace will all the more abound. So much pain, so much sorrow must lead
to a holier priesthood, a holier episcopate, and a holier Church.

God alone is the source of holiness, and it is to Him above all that
we must turn for forgiveness, for healing and for the grace to meet this
challenge with uncompromising courage and harmony of purpose. Like the
Good Shepherd of last Sundays Gospel [John 10:1-10], pastors must
go among their priests and people as men who inspire deep trust and lead
them to restful waters.

I beg the Lord to give the bishops of the United States the strength
to build their response to the present crisis upon the solid foundations
of faith and upon genuine pastoral charity for the victims, as well as
for the priests and the entire Catholic community in your country. And
I ask Catholics to stay close to their priests and bishops, and to support
them with their prayers at this difficult time.

Pope John Paul II

April 23, 2002

U.S. Cardinals
Statement

On April 23-24, 2002, an extraordinary meeting was held in the Vatican
between the Cardinals of the United States and the leadership of the United
States Catholic Conference of Bishops and the heads of several offices
of the Holy See on the subject of the sexual abuse of minors.

The meeting was called with three goals in mind:

on the part of the American bishops, to inform the Holy See about
the difficulties which they have faced in recent months,

on the part of the Roman Dicasteries, to hear directly from the American
cardinals and the chief officials of the United States Conference of
Catholic Bishops a general evaluation of the situation,

and together to develop ways to move forward in addressing these issues.

As is known, the Holy Father received the working group in his private
library late in the morning of Tuesday, April 23, and gave a programmatic
address. Today, at the end of the morning session, His Holiness invited
the American cardinals and bishops to lunch, to continue their discussion
of some of the themes raised at the meeting.

The participants first of all wish to express their unanimous gratitude
to the Holy Father for his clear indications of direction and commitment
for the future. In communion with the pope they reaffirm certain basic
principles:

1) The sexual abuse of minors is rightly considered a crime by society
and is an appalling sin in the eyes of God, above all when it is perpetrated
by priests and religious whose vocation is to help persons to lead holy
lives before God and men.

2) There is a need to convey to the victims and their families a profound
sense of solidarity and to provide appropriate assistance in recovering
faith and receiving pastoral care.

3) Even if the cases of true pedophilia on the part of priests and
religious are few, all the participants recognized the gravity of the
problem. In the meeting, the quantitative terms of the problem were
discussed, since the statistics are not very clear in this regard. Attention
was drawn to the fact that almost all the cases involved adolescents
and therefore were not cases of true pedophilia.

4) Together with the fact that a link between celibacy and pedophilia
cannot be scientifically maintained, the meeting reaffirmed the value
of priestly celibacy as a gift of God to the Church.

5) Given the doctrinal issues underlying the deplorable behavior in
question, certain lines of response have been proposed:

a) the pastors of the Church need clearly to promote the correct
moral teaching of the Church and publicly to reprimand individuals
who spread dissent and groups which advance ambiguous approaches to
pastoral care;

b) a new and serious apostolic visitation of seminaries and other
institutes of formation must be made without delay, with particular
emphasis on the need for fidelity to the Churchs teaching, especially
in the area of morality, and the need for a deeper study of the criteria
of suitability of candidates to the priesthood.

c) it would be fitting for the Bishops of the United States Conference
of Catholic Bishops to ask the faithful to join them in observing
a national day of prayer and penance, in reparation for the offenses
perpetrated and in prayer to God for the conversion of sinners and
the reconciliation of victims.

6) All the participants have seen this time as a call to a greater
fidelity to the mystery of the Church. Consequently they see the present
time as a moment of grace. While recognizing that practical criteria
of conduct are indispensable and urgently needed, we cannot underestimate,
in the words of the Holy Father, the power of Christian conversion,
that radical decision to turn away from sin and back to God, which reaches
the depths of a persons soul and can work extraordinary change.
At the same time, as His Holiness also stated, People need to
know that there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for
those who would harm the young. They must know that bishops and priests
are totally committed to the fullness of Catholic truth on matters of
sexual morality, a truth as essential to the renewal of the priesthood
and the episcopate as it is to the renewal of marriage and family life.

Again in the Holy Fathers words, neither should we forget the immense
spiritual, human and social good that the vast majority of priests and
religious in the United States have done and are still doing. The
Catholic Church in your country has always promoted human and Christian
values with great vigor and generosity, in a way that has helped to consolidate
all that is noble in the American people. A great work of art may be blemished,
but its beauty remains; and this is a truth which any intellectually honest
critic will recognize. To the Catholic communities in the United States,
to their pastors and members, to the men and women religious, to teachers
in Catholic universities and schools, to American missionaries in all
parts of the world, go the wholehearted thanks of the entire Catholic
Church and the personal thanks of the bishop of Rome.

For this reason, the cardinals and bishops present at the meeting today
sent a message to all the priests of the United States, their co-workers
in the pastoral ministry. [Text of letter is below.]

As part of the preparation for the June meeting of the American bishops,
the United States participants in the Rome meeting presented to the prefects
of the Roman congregations the following proposals:

1) We propose to send the respective congregations of the Holy See
a set of national standards which the Holy See will properly review
(recognitio), in which essential elements for policies dealing
with the sexual abuse of minors in dioceses and religious institutes
in the United States are set forth.

2) We will propose that the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
recommend a special process for the dismissal from the clerical state
of a priest who has become notorious and is guilty of the serial, predatory,
sexual abuse of minors.

3) While recognizing that the Code of Canon Law already contains a
judicial process for the dismissal of priests guilty of sexually abusing
minors, we will also propose a special process for cases which are not
notorious but where the diocesan bishop considers the priest a threat
for the protection of children and young people, in order to avoid grave
scandal in the future and to safeguard the common good of the Church.

4) We will propose an apostolic visitation of seminaries and religious
houses of formation, giving special attention to their admission requirements
and the need for them to teach Catholic moral doctrine in its integrity.

5) We will propose that the bishops of the United States make every
effort to implement the challenge of the Holy Father that the present
crisis must lead to a holier priesthood, a holier episcopate,
and a holier Church by calling for deeper holiness in the Church
in the United States, including ourselves as bishops, the clergy, the
religious and the faithful.

6) We propose that the bishops of the United States set aside a day
for prayer and penance throughout the Church in the United States, in
order to implore reconciliation and the renewal of ecclesial life.

From the Vatican

April 24, 2002

U.S. Cardinals
Letter to American Priests

We, the Cardinals of the United States and the Presidency of the National
Conference of Catholic Bishops, gathered with our brother Cardinals of
the Roman Curia around the Successor of Peter, wish to speak a special
word to you, our brother priests, who give yourselves so generously from
day to day in service of Gods people.

At our meeting, you have been very much in our minds and hearts, for
we know the heavy burden of sorrow and shame that you are bearing because
some have betrayed the grace of Ordination by abusing those entrusted
to their care.

We regret that episcopal oversight has not been able to preserve the
Church from this scandal. The entire Church, the Bride of Christ, is afflicted
by this wound  the victims and their families first of all, but
also you who have dedicated your lives to the priestly service of
the Gospel of God (Rom 15:16).

To all of you we express our deep gratitude for all that you do to build
up the Body of Christ in holiness and love. We pledge to support you in
every possible way through these troubled times, and we ask that you stay
close to us in the bond of the priesthood as we make every effort to bring
the healing grace of Christ to the people whom we serve.

We are in complete harmony with the Holy Father when he said in his Address
yesterday: Neither should we forget the immense spiritual, human
and social good that the vast majority of priests and religious in the
United States have done and are still doing.... To the Catholic communities
in the United States, to their Pastors and members, to the men and women
religious, to teachers in Catholic universities and schools, to American
missionaries in all parts of the world, go the wholehearted thanks of
the entire Catholic Church and the personal thanks of the Bishop of Rome.

As we look to the future, let us together beg the eternal High Priest
for the grace to live this time of trial with courage and confidence in
the Crucified Lord. This echoes the summons of our Ordination: Imitate
the mystery you celebrate; model your life on the mystery of the Lords
Cross (Rite of Ordination); and it is a vital part of what we now
offer the Church as she passes through this time of painful purification.
From the house of the Successor of Peter, who has confirmed us in our
faith, we wish in turn to confirm you in the humble and exalted service
of the Catholic priesthood to which we have been called. Peace be with
you!

From the Vatican

April 24, 2002

The
Defense of Liberty

What constitutes the bulwark of our own liberty and independence?
It is not our frowning battlements, our bristling seacoasts, the guns of
our war steamers, or the strength of our gallant and disciplined army. These
are not our reliance against a resumption of tyranny in our fair land. All
of them may be turned against our liberties, without making us stronger
or weaker for the struggle. Our reliance is in the love of liberty
which God has planted in our bosoms. Our defense is in the preservation
of the spirit which prizes liberty as the heritage of all men, in all lands,
everywhere. Destroy this spirit, and you have planted the seeds of despotism
around your own doors. Familiarize yourselves with the chains of bondage,
and you are preparing your own limbs to wear them. Accustomed to trample
on the rights of those around you, you have lost the genius of your own
independence, and become the fit subjects of the first cunning tyrant who rises.